Pages

Chinese Proverbs (001-100)

❖
Inferior in youth, not much use in old age.
Work is afraid of a resolute man.
Your teacher can lead you to the door the acquiring of learning rests with each person.
Better die ten years earlier than live those years in poverty.
Those who are prospering do not argue about taxes.
❖
When you have had a toothache, you can understand how another's toothache feels.
There is no ease for the mouth with an aching tooth.
Each trade has its own ways.
He who can handle a writing brush will never have to beg.
To complete a thing, a hundred years is not sufficient to destroy it, one day is more than enough.
❖
The tongue is soft and remains the teeth are hard and fall out.
Bitter words are medicine sweet words bring illness.
The pretty woman in the house is the enemy of all the ugly ones.
For an intelligent man, one word and he understands.
Without a bright mirror a woman cannot know if the powder is smooth on her face.
❖
A single kind word keeps one warm for three winters.
The two words, "peace" and "tranquility," are worth a thousand pieces of gold.
In books there are women who appear as jewels.
Words are the voice of the heart.
Towers are measured by their shadows, great men by those who speak evil of them.
❖
The tongue is like a sharp knife: it kills without drawing blood.
The homely woman is precious in the home, but at a feast the beautiful one is preferred.
If one word does not succeed, ten thousand are of no avail.
When a word has once left the lips, the swiftest horse cannot overtake it.
It is difficult to get a good word it is easy to give a bad one.
❖
Words unspoken are not known.
Hurry men at their work, not at their meals.
The wood for a temple does not come from one tree.
Wine does not intoxicate a man he intoxicates himself. Men are not enticed by vice they entice themselves.
Without wine in the bottle it is hard to have guests.
❖
Wine should be taken in small doses knowledge in large.
When there is much soliciting to buy and to sell, trade is not very lively.
To beat a tiger one must have a brother's help.
Ugly wives and stupid servant girls are treasures above price.
If you don't drink, the price of wine is of no interest.
❖
Good wine reddens the face of man riches excite his heart.
Today's wine I drink today tomorrow's sorrow I bear tomorrow.
There is no wall through which the wind cannot pass.
A wife should not hold converse with her husband's younger brother.
If there is no wind, the trees don't move.
❖
Curse not your wife in the evening, or you will have to sleep alone.
She who is the wife of one man cannot eat the rice of two.
When there is wind in the clouds there are waves on the river.
Money will open a blind man's eyes will make a priest sell his prayer books.
Fine or not, it is my country's wine.
❖
Each cup of wine and each bite of meat is destined from aforetime.
A wife is sought for her virtue, a concubine for her beauty.
He who sits in a well to look at the sky can see but little.
Deep waters flow slowly.
It is difficult to gather up spilled water.
❖
Though stone were changed to gold, the heart of man would not be satisfied.
You may hide a thing from men from the spirits you cannot hide it.
If you take one step in the wrong direction, a hundred steps in the right direction will not atone for it.
Spring is as changeable as a stepmother's face.
If the string is long, the kite flies high.
❖
One speck of rat's dung spoils a whole pot of rice.
Teach your son in the hall, your wife on the pillow.
If you know where to stop and stop there, you will never be disgraced.
Though your stomach is full, carry provisions.
It is easy to dodge a spear in the daylight, but it is difficult to avoid an arrow in the dark.
❖
To raise a son without learning is raising an ass to raise a daughter without learning is raising a pig.
If you neglect study when you are young, what of your old age.
When the ear does not listen, the heart escapes sorrow.
Brainless sons boast of their ancestors.
If you strike a snake without killing it, it will turn and bite you.
❖
Speak softly, and be slow to begin your speech.
Sow much, reap much sow little, reap little.
A teacher will not criticize a teacher, nor will a doctor criticize a doctor.
A runaway son is still precious a runaway daughter loses her value.
One sincere thought can move both Heaven and earth.
❖
The spirits hover but three feet above your head.
A carpenter's son knows how to saw a duckling, how to swim.
Sorrow is born of excessive joy.
One year bitten by a snake, for three years afraid of a grass rope.
Let each sweep the snow from before his own door let him not be concerned about the frost on his neighbor's tiles.
❖
He who is bitten once by a snake will not walk a second time in the grass.
Never spoil a slave or deceive a small child.
The serpent knows his own hole.
A long road tests a horse long drawn-out affairs test a friend.
When the river is full the well is full.
❖
Slanders cluster thick about a widow's door.
The more stupid, the happier.
Sin is the root of the sorrow.
If you wish to know the road ahead, inquire of those who have traveled it.
Ten thousand rivers flow into the sea, but the sea is never full.
❖
Slander cannot make a good man bad.
If you are standing upright, don't worry if your shadow is crooked.
When the roof is leaky, it rains that night.
You cannot get two skins from one cow.
When you go out to buy, don't show your silver.
❖
When the sky is clear, carry an umbrella.
Salt is good to eat anywhere in the world money is good to use anywhere in the world.
Those near the temple make fun of the gods.
You can't cut off the sunlight with one hand.
Robbers are plundered by thieves.
❖
Don't add salt to a boatload of salt fish.
Every sect has its truth and every truth its sect.
Scholars are a country's treasure, the learned are the delicacies of the feast.
Those who have free seats at the play hiss first.
A sheep was never known to climb a tree.
❖❖❖
Chinese Proverbs (001-100) Chinese Proverbs (101-200) Chinese Proverbs (201-300) Chinese Proverbs (301-400) Chinese Proverbs (401-500) Chinese Proverbs (501-600) Chinese Proverbs (601-636)